Best Buy offers HD DVD owners $10 million in gift cards, trade in, shoulder to cry on

Best Buy is following Future Shop, Circuit City and others in reaching out to casualties of the format war. In this case, anyone who bought an HD DVD player from Best Buy before February 23, 2008 can request a complimentary $50 gift card for each player. For those too traumatized to even look at their discontinued hardware and software, Best Buy also announced it's adding HD DVD players and media to its Trade-In Center program, starting March 21. No word on how much a player can net you, but once it's updated, check BestBuyTradeIn.com to get an estimate and decide how much holding onto the past is worth.

[Thanks, Harmin C.]

Update: Best Buy just issued a press release with additional information about the more than $10 million in gift cards it plans to distribute, and details on how to make sure you get yours, check out the full PR after the break.

Best Buy Stands Behind Customers By Awarding More Than $10 Million in Gift Cards to HD-DVD Purchasers
Leading Consumer Electronics Retailer will Send $50 Gift Cards to Customers Who Purchased an HD-DVD Player from Best Buy in the U.S.

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With Blu-ray declaring victory over HD-DVD in the high definition movie format war, Best Buy, the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer, is giving $50 gift cards to customers who purchased an HD-DVD player or HD-DVD attachment from its U.S. stores before February 23, 2008. Customers will get a gift card for each player or HD-DVD attachment that they purchased. Through this program, Best Buy will distribute more than $10 million in gift cards to customers across the country.

"The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven't seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago," said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy. "At Best Buy, we understood and shared our customers' frustrations as they were being asked to choose one format or the other. Now that the format war is over, we hope these gift cards will reassure our customers that we will help them make a smooth transition into the right technology for their needs."

Most Best Buy customers won't have to do anything to receive their gift card. As a demonstration of its commitment to its customers, Best Buy will proactively mail cards to all customers that the company can identify as having purchased an HD-DVD player. Members of the Best Buy Reward Zone program, customers who purchased Performance Service Plans (PSPs) or who made their purchase on BestBuy.com should look for their gift cards in the mail by May 1. Other customers who may not be easily identified can call (888) BEST BUY to receive their gift cards with proof of purchase through a credit card or their Best Buy receipt.

"The beauty of this offer is that it doesn't require our customers to give up their HD-DVD player," said Barry Judge, chief marketing officer for Best Buy. "We know that many people who purchased these players have HD-DVD movies that they would like to continue to watch. We're telling our customers they can keep their players to play these movies as well as their older DVDs and use the $50 to treat themselves to anything else in our stores."

HD-DVD players can actually deliver greatly enhanced video performance with standard DVDs by upconverting the video resolution.

Beginning on March 21, customers who do want to get rid of their HD-DVD players can visit Best Buy's Online Trade-In Center at www.bestbuytradein.com. Visitors to the site will receive instant estimates of the value of their HD-DVD players and movies. Those who agree with the estimates can then ship their goods to the Trade-In Center free of charge by downloading a prepaid shipping label and will receive an additional gift card as payment for their trade-in. This service is open to HD-DVD owners regardless of where they bought their player.

For more information visit www.bestbuy.com/hddvd.

[Chino B @ Mar 19th 2008 5:52AM]

Yay! I'm a troll

[Jagannath A @ Mar 19th 2008 6:31AM]

congrats

[low tech @ Mar 19th 2008 7:49PM]

That's like bragging about passing your AIDS test.

[Bobs @ Mar 19th 2008 5:54AM]

Ill buy one, so in 50 years, itll be the new laser disc, and ebay it for MILLIONS!!!

[tekdroid @ Mar 19th 2008 5:55AM]

Holding on to the past? Sounds a bit melodramatic to me. DVD is going nowhere for the forseeable :p

[Ayman @ Mar 19th 2008 6:10AM]

Wa333333333333 i never had a chance to buy the HD DVD... all i have now is my crummy PS3 Blueray player, this is so unfair............ oh wait!!

[mkeough23 @ Mar 19th 2008 6:35AM]

The only Reason id buy one now is so when I'm 80 i can go " Now son see here this is one of them Hd dvd players seee"

[JoN @ Mar 19th 2008 6:58AM]

whats wrong trolls? where are all the people who want to talk shit about a big company? are you stunned they are going to automatically gonna send them if they know who you are...? yea exactly.

[CUBSWILLWIN @ Mar 19th 2008 7:33AM]

Atleast someone is doing something nice in america for HDDVD owners

[Nate @ Mar 19th 2008 7:54AM]

$10 Million in Gift Cards? Didn't they make $40+ million in unused Gift Cards last year? Capitalism at its best and have fun using that gift card on a new overpriced $400 Blu-Ray player because if you don't use that gift card, it will expire in what... a year anyways (in some states)? The price won't coming down (much) for BD players for a while.

[Jack Storm @ Mar 19th 2008 12:10PM]

pshh why so negative about a damn FREE giftcard?!?!

[BarryBee @ Mar 19th 2008 3:59PM]

You just sound like a troll with all your factless statements. First off its free money that can be used toward ANYTHING in the store and secondly they dont expire at all, you can come in 10 years from now and use them if BBY is still around. Stop spreading stupidity, please and thank you.

[darkprime @ Mar 19th 2008 7:48AM]

Instead of Gift Cards, why not just lower the price on Blu-Ray hardware or media? Then all can benefit.

[wraith808 @ Mar 19th 2008 9:05AM]

That has nothing to do with Best Buy. That has to do with Sony and the BDA. All of the people who extolled the merits of removing competition driving prices down... right.

But hey, this is a nice effort on the part of Best Buy. Definitely more than I expected.

[Neuco @ Mar 19th 2008 7:50AM]

Does this include the Xbox 360 HD DVD add-on? Because I bought one last year when it was still $179.99. I have since sold it on Craigslist (before HD DVD went bust, luckily) but I still wouldn't mind that gift card, since technically I still lost out.

[Kryptinite @ Mar 19th 2008 8:25AM]

Yes it does. And apparently they are sending them out as of now. The website says if you don't receive your GC by May 1, 2008, you have to give them a call. I really hope this doesn't go to my old address.

[Prey521 @ Mar 19th 2008 8:06AM]

Sweet! I bought an HD-A3 for $99 from Best Buy and sold it for $198 a few days later and now on top of that am getting a $50 card which I'll spend on HD-DVD movies to watch on my HD-A2.

[rcappo @ Mar 19th 2008 10:36AM]

I bet a few people will use it to buy HD-DVD movies that you can't get currently on BR.

[superfresh @ Mar 19th 2008 8:33AM]

Engadget should hold a contest for a free BluRay player to the person that can demonstrate the deepest committment to HD-DVD. I would love to see photos of stacks of red boxes next to disgruntled faces.

[Dan Davis @ Mar 19th 2008 8:47AM]

I Second that idea!

[Hraefn @ Mar 19th 2008 6:18PM]

The motion has been made and seconded that Engadget should hold a "HD-DVD loyalty contest" with a BluRay player as a prize. Any votes?

*raises hand*

[Brent98 @ Mar 19th 2008 8:33AM]

Sounds good, Im really not all that ticked I bought an HDDVD player from best buy, but if they feel they need to bribe me to keep my business Im not gonna complain. I will keep my HDDVD as long as I can, but I will be buying Blu-Ray exclusively from now on.

[dj-kenpo @ Mar 19th 2008 9:09AM]

bestbuy and futureshop are the same company.

[Alex Padilla @ Mar 19th 2008 9:27AM]

Wow, I can't believe Best Buy isn't acting evil. Maybe they really are human after all...

[Roofus @ Mar 19th 2008 10:06AM]

LMFAO. Yeah, not acting evil would be not selling crap that costs upwards of $500 and had a 50% likelyhood of a being a paperweight within a year. They're still raking profit off those players and movies and they're hoping people will calm down enough to drop another $400 on a BD player after they get their $50 pity card.

[ripped off @ Mar 19th 2008 9:31AM]

I purchased an "entertainment PC" from Best Buy 6 months ago with an HD-DVD player at the recommendation of a Best Buy sales person. Is has not worked since I got it. It has been either waiting for a response from tech support (usually weeks) or in the shop. I have not watched 1 HD-DVD movie on it. Now HD-DVD is dead and Best Buy offers this, except to those foolish enough to purchase a PC from them. It's just another slap in the face (like every time I take it in and hear "wow you spent a lot on this!")

[Jack Storm @ Mar 19th 2008 12:14PM]

umm you sound like a fool, did you forget about your 30 day return policy if its not working they dont charge you a restocking fee and you would of gotten a BRAND NEW ONE. i abuse that return policy and they never complain to me.

[ripped off @ Mar 19th 2008 4:34PM]

Actually I was told I would be charged a 15% restocking fee. Also, I have been informed that it is a design flaw with the PC, so even though they're considering giving me a new one, it will probably have the same problems.

[umm....hello??? @ Mar 19th 2008 10:19AM]

crap....I wonder if the x360 HD-DVD I purchased was before Feb. 23rd...only paid $50 for it, so if I return it, I get my $50 back AND a $50 gift card!!

[Jnetty @ Mar 19th 2008 10:21AM]

Thats great about Bestbuy. Can't wait to get my Gift Card.

[crho85 @ Mar 19th 2008 10:29AM]

Sweet, I'll have to start looking at craigslist to find a cheap hddvd player. Chances are slim but you never know

[Jack Storm @ Mar 19th 2008 12:16PM]

hows that gonna help ya?

[crho85 @ Mar 19th 2008 12:43PM]

true... I forgot about that whole reciept thing

[Ian @ Mar 19th 2008 10:39AM]

What is going to happen to all these slightly used HD DVD players? After all they make excellentr Standard DVD players and upgrade pictures to 1080!!!!!!!!!!!! I see new ones on sale for $80.00 got to be a "best buy".

[plozen @ Mar 19th 2008 11:41AM]

Man I can't believe how many people on here are complaining about getting $50 for doing nothing. Best Buy didn't make you buy the HD DVD player, it was your choice. Sure the company does some headscratching things, but man, give credit where credit is due. And it's not like they are the only company selling BD players for $500. Calm down, take the gift card, say thank you and then complain about something else they do.

[ryan moore @ Mar 19th 2008 3:52PM]

looks like i will be picking up GTA for free w/my other $10 giftcard.. nice effort for a huge company, seriously. i am impressed.

[ENVi @ Mar 19th 2008 1:19PM]

Who's left? Amazon, I'm looking at you.

[Greg W. @ Mar 19th 2008 1:24PM]

"Sir, I'm going to write your trade-in value on this sheet of paper"

(draws a perfect circle)

[Cru Jones @ Mar 19th 2008 1:59PM]

"The DVD format war has divided our customers in a way we haven't seen since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago," said Brian J. Dunn, president and chief operating officer for Best Buy."

Was Best Buy around during the VHS vs. Betamax format war?

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 19th 2008 3:39PM]

Look past the uneccessary words...

"The DVD format war has divided our customers. We haven't seen [this] since Betamax took on VHS more than 20 years ago,"

Simple context.

[PhilxBefore @ Mar 19th 2008 3:43PM]

Also Best Buy has been around for 25 or so years, and used a different name in the 60's.

[npbheights @ Mar 20th 2008 5:49PM]

Didn't VHS take on Betamax and not the other way around?
Betamax was introduced in 1975 and VHS in 1978...

[sygyzy @ Mar 19th 2008 4:38PM]

Great. Now I hope Amazon follows suit.

[Bob @ Mar 19th 2008 6:09PM]

For anyone interested, I looked into trading in my player with 6 movies. And assuming it's in "excellent" condition, the trade-in value is $54. Here's a screenshot:

http://www.techconsumer.com/2008/03/19/best-buy-giving-10-million-in-gift-cards-to-hd-dvd-buyers/

[Harmin C. @ Mar 19th 2008 7:48PM]

Wow my tip made it to engadget... i was jus surfing best buys site late last night and saw it an emailed into engagdget. I think this is good news and will win many customers over. Best Buy does not need to give any hd-dvd adopters a break but a free $50 dollar gift card and possible trade-ins is great. Though i wonder how much my A3 will still be worth trade-in.

[NIG B @ Mar 20th 2008 12:15AM]

I'll believe it when I see it... i bought a service plan on my HD-A30 and used reward zone when i bought my xbox add-on... I doubt i;ll ever see any gift cards.

[happy_penguin @ Mar 20th 2008 1:07AM]

They aren't being nice. It's a public relations maneuver, nothing more. I'm not criticizing it. Actually, I support it. From a business standpoint it's a smart move and if it benefits the consumers who bought the HDDVD machines then all the better for those individuals.

[Karl K @ Mar 20th 2008 3:03AM]

Sony lost the Betamax vs VHS war, they lost on MiniDiscs, they finally won a round. They've got to give thanks to the Playstation. Putting BluRay in millions of homes in the name of a 'gaming system' was marketing genious.

Sort of like Microsoft putting Flight Simulator on a PC 25 years ago. Finally a reason to take a computer home... GAMES!

[Vic R. @ Mar 20th 2008 7:17AM]

Does the offer extend to those who bought Toshiba laptops with an HD DVD player?

[jim @ Mar 20th 2008 12:37PM]

mkeough23
@ Mar 19th 2008 6:35AM
The only Reason id buy one now is so when I'm 80 i can go " Now son see here this is one of them Hd dvd players seee"


YOU PLAN ON HAVING CHILDREN AT 65-70???